Freezing motion with flash, how low can you go?

Nikon D90

17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8

ƒ/6.3

38.0 mm

1/25

500

Flash (on, fired)

I was presented with a job photographing kids indoors.  Kids don't like to sit still, so photographing them indoors can be a bit of a challenge.  The ceiling in this indoor space was too high to bounce my flash off of so I had no choice but to point the flash right at my subjects.  I could have taken the flash off the camera and used a cord but that required too much juggling and made it impossible for me to hold my camera with both hands.  I used a large softbox and I constantly changed the FV value to get the results I wanted.  I think I had it at -.3 for this shot.

In the above picture my flash froze the motion nicely and I was able to get away with just 1/25 of a second for a nice clear shot.  The kid in the back ground is a blur but he was moving fast and the flash was not pointed at him.  I was not able to freeze the motion of fast moving subjects at such low shutter speeds.  I'll keep experimenting.

I was really happy with how much ambient light was preserved while using the flash.  The entire reason to shoot with such a low shutter speed was to let in more ambient light so my pictures would not look like they were taken in a cave.

The softbox worked well to defuse the light and the slower shutter speed called for lower flash power both worked together to eliminate and hash light or shadows on my subject.

More Softball

Cotton Candy

I've seen a lot of cotton candy this festival season and this was the most unique collection method of all.  I also have a photo in the sports section that made the front page of the online edition.

Softball

This was my first time photographing softball.  The paper is looking to hire a full time sport reporter at the moment.   Again I used .jpg and active D lighting.  I was a bit under glassed with my 70-200mm lens but it still got the job done.  I'm thinking about buying a teleconverter for my lens.  I mostly shot at f/6.3 and above so I could shots that were in focus.  

The hardest shot to get was outfielders catching fly balls.  By the time I knew where the ball was going and got my lens pointed in the right direction I was lucky to get a non blurry shot.  Getting the timing correct was even harder.  I was generally just a little bit too late to get a picture of the ball in the air.  I've read that I should keep both eyes open when shooting softball but my right eye is covered up by my camera as I look through the view finder with my left eye.

I was able to get a lot of pictures of the bat making contact with the ball.  I watched the body language of the batters to time those shots.

    Shannon Paine (Bomb Squad) hustles to first base as first base man Kevin Frye (Castle Colman) stretches out to receive the ball thrown to him by another in fielder after it was hit by Shannon Paine.  Castle Coleman won this contest with a final score of 7-3 at the Adult Coed Softball league tournament from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Callanan Park. 

      Jordanne Kumpolis receives a high five from a team mate as she rounds third base after hitting a solo home run.  Jordanne’s team Brothers lost 16-5 Vs Castle Coleman during the first game of the weekend tournament at the Adult Coed Softball league tournament from from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Callanan Park. 

     Jorge Wright age 7 plays in a sprinkler to cool off while his  uncle Brandon plays softball  for the team Camco on Saturday afternoon. at the Adult Coed Softball league tournament from from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Callanan Park. 

Allyn Days

The weather was really hot again so to avoid overheating I moved slowly and paced myself.

      Waves of heat and steam radiate off of the grill as Hector Loza of Taylor Shellfish dumps oysters out of a net bag. at Allyn Days sponsored by the Allyn Community Association and held at the Allyn waterfront park  on Sunday .   ~ © Shawna Whelan 2015

      Joshua Ford 12, of Belfair, smiles as he competes in the speed oyster shucking race at Allyn Days sponsored by the Allyn Community Association and held at the Allyn waterfront park  on Sunday .   ~ © Shawna Whelan 2015

      Team Windermere celebrates back at the dock after winning a dragon boat race at Allyn Days sponsored by the Allyn Community Association and held at the Allyn waterfront park  on Sunday .   ~ © Shawna Whelan 2015

Summer Continues - Disc Golf Showdown

Disc Golf Showdown:
Again active D lighting was very helpful here.  This was a difficult job with many of the shots in speckled sun and shade under a tree canopy.  It was also very hot.  I had to leave before I was completely happy with my work because the heat drove me away.

Kyle Crabtree of Fife reckons that he is the 12 best disc golf player in the world.

Professional disk golfer Ming Vang of Seattle  checks out a colorful display of disks for sale
 on the tournament grounds.

Summer time

Fourth of July at the Shelton Farmer's Market

I've started to shoot my paper assignments in .jpg again.  When I shoot in .jpg I can take advantage of Nikon's active D lighting.  Active D lighting pretty much ruins RAW images. I feel a bit lazy shooting in .jpg  because jpg files don't need as much editing as raw files, but the paper does not like my pictures to be edited much anyway.

I'm doing as much of my work as possible with my 70-200mm lens and only breaking out my wide angle lens when I need to get really close to my subjects.

4th of July at the farmer's market.  I took the face painting shot due to the flag and this child's
patriot clothing, it printed.  At any festival the face painting shot is a for sure safe shot.

Old dogs waiting to be in the 4th of July parade

WSU Garden Tour

A vigorously growing pumpkin plant blooms and sets fruit as it climbs up a trellis at the Rob Wilson-Hoss garden.

at The Mason County WSU Master Gardener Garden Tour Saturday, July 11 from 10 AM – 4 PM. Gardens are located north of Shelton. ~copyright 2015 Shawna Whelan

) Flowers blossom in the foreground of Rebecca’s Bowden’s decorated house wall.

at The Mason County WSU Master Gardener Garden Tour Saturday, July 11 from 10 AM – 4 PM. Gardens are located north of Shelton. ~copyright 2015 Shawna Whelan

Rob Wilson-Hoss tends to his pepper plants while prayer flags hang overhead and behind him.

at The Mason County WSU Master Gardener Garden Tour Saturday, July 11 from 10 AM – 4 PM. Gardens are located north of Shelton. ~copyright 2015 Shawna Whelan

Festival Season

I like festival season, it keeps me busy.  I've only submitted one face painting photo so far.

 I took this photo less than 48 hours after my mother died.  For the most part, I managed to hold it together and not cry while I was working.

Dirty Dash

These photos are copyright protected.  All of my photos are protected, but these, I don't even own.  I can only use them as part of my portfolio.

My mother died the night before this job.  I had to make a tough decision to stay home.  I think it was the right decision.   She  passed away before we could have made it to the hospital and they would not have let us into her room while they were doing CPR, even if we could have made it on time.  At 10pm I informed the hospital over the phone to respect my mother's living will and to keep performing CPR.  She died at 11:10pm.  My home is two hours drive from the hospital she died in.

 I went to work at 6 the next morning.  This job helped to distract me from the grief.  All I had to do was plant myself in one place and take photos with my camera settings all determined by Flo-Foto a week ahead of time.

At the end of the day I handed over my SD card and I went home.  I did not have to do any editing.  For most of the pictures I got clear shots of bib number, but the ones I posted here are a bit more artistic.

This job was really fun and I hope I can do it again next year.

Bicycle Race

I photographed the "Tour De Mason Lake" bicycle ride.  This was a benefit for the Karen Hilburn Breast and Cervical Cancer Fund.  This was my first time photographing bicycles.    Given the previous theme of this blog, I believe I have now come full circle.

Kids Fishing Derby 4-H benefit

This was pretty straight forward, photograph kids catching captive fish. The main issue was that the light was coming from the lake and the participants were mostly facing away from the light. No matter though, because I could not get between the participants and the light without going swimming.   The light got a bit better later in the assignment.  When I did finally get between the subjects and the light my own shadow started getting in the way.  My wide angle zoom proved to be the best lens for this job. I did not like walking out onto the wobbly dock with all my expensive camera gear.

    Albert Swalander, 14 of Elma leans over the dock to dislodge a hook from the mouth of a rainbow trout.  The small trout took his bait. Free pancake and sausage breakfast served to participants. At the “Free Youth Fishing Day” at Panhandle Lake 4-H camp on Sunday, June 7^th, 2015 in Shelton Washington ~Shawna Whelan © 2015

      Mom Jamie Morgan in the center juggles two fish at once.  The fish were both caught at the same time by her children Lucy Morgan, 7 and Owen Morgan 5, they are from Olympia.At the “Free Youth Fishing Day” at Panhandle Lake 4-H camp on Sunday, June 7^th, 2015 in Shelton Washington ~Shawna Whelan © 2015

     Joe McClanahan of Olympia helps Maeve McClanahan age 2, reel in a trout she just hooked. At the “Free Youth Fishing Day” at Panhandle Lake 4-H camp on Sunday, June 7^th, 2015 in Shelton Washington ~Shawna Whelan © 2015

Shelton Performing Arts Center

I was given the theater for the entire month of May.  I felt like I got to know a lot of the high school students.  I learned a lot about metering and I got to crawl around back stage.  Here are a few photos from different theater jobs.

Goldsborough Creek Run

A couple of pictures from the Goldsborough Creek run during the Forest Festival.  It felt really good to nail these two shots.

   Sarah Johnson gives it everything she’s got as she crosses the finish line, she took  first place for women in the 7 mile run “Sarah Johnson, a Shelton native, set a new record in the 7 mile female run division with a time of 41:06, beating the previous record of 45:08 set in 2008 by Caroline White from Tacoma”

      Race champion Andrew Prentice of Olympia crosses the finish line for the 7 mile run “Andrew Prentice set a new record of 38:51, beating his previous record set in 2008 of 39.22.  Andrew is from Olympia” 

I have 16 pictures in this week's paper including two front page pictures.

From left 4^th degree Knights of Columbus Members, John Boux,  Willam Smith and Jim Kellogg take off their hats and pray during the remembrance ceremony.  At the Veterans Remembrance at Presented by the Allyn Community Association, North Mason Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Allyn  and held at the  Allyn Waterfront Park in Allyn on Memorial Day 2015.